KEY POINTS:
Sportspeople fuelled by love - it could be the latest in sports psychology after the astonishing renaissance of 53-year-old Greg Norman in the British Open golf tournament.
It wasn't so much the fact the Great White Shark, as he used to be known, led the tournament up until
the final nine holes. It wasn't even the fact that he tanked it at the end, as many predicted, fading as champion Padraig Harrington put together a surge that would have defeated most other golfers.
Many in the media leapt on the 'choke' train again. One of the world's greatest chokers gagged again, they said. Choke? This was no choke. This was a man in love, a man performing in front of his new wife, a man who refused to compromise on the very thing which had brought her to him.
You see, Norman - winner of only two majors when his talent suggests he should have won many more - was at Royal Birkdale with his new wife, former tennis star Chris Evert. In more ways than one, they were the story of the Open.
Their marriage resulted from an affair which led to messy divorces. Norman and his ex-wife, Laura Andrassy, had been married for 25 years. Evert and her husband of 18 years, former Olympic downhill skier Andy Mill, used to socialise with the Normans.
The two couples knew each other well. Mill said recently: "Greg Norman at one time was my best friend. I would have taken a bullet for this guy. But I didn't realise he was the one going to pull the trigger." Andrassy said of Evert: "She came after him. I have never seen anything like it... I really don't have a lot of respect for her as a woman. She is not a great person."
Norman's divorce cost somewhere around US$100 million, putting a reasonable dent in his business empire and golf fortune, estimated to be about US$500 million.
Evert gave Mill US$7.5 million and their US$5m holiday home in the ski resort of Aspen.
At the Open, Norman and Evert emerged together for the first time since their wedding and extended honeymoon - of which the Open was a part - and it was immediately obvious that this was no flash-in-the-pan celebrity infatuation.
For a start, Norman chose someone his own age. Someone with his fortune and looks could no doubt have acquired a typical golf trophy wife - a 26-year-old blonde with an IQ challenged by her bra size.
He might have 500 million goo-goos, a wine, clothing and golf empire, but it was clear Norman had found something he didn't have before. They were 53, going on 23. During the Open, Norman looked at Evert as you would hope a man looks at his woman, with respect and desire. They cooed and canoodled.
This was a man who had largely turned his back on golf; affected by old injuries; held together by bits of string and chewing gum; who was concentrating on business. But his romance with Evert plainly fuelled old fires. For three rounds, and for part of the final round, he played like a man inspired; a man propelled by love and happiness; showing his woman what he could do.
Norman waved away one (female) reporter questioning, in a puzzled way, why he'd ditched one 50-year-old for another - as if she couldn't understand why he hadn't tied a bimbo to his back bumper. See, stupidity is not an exclusive male preserve... love has nothing to do with age, all male mid-life crisis clichés aside.
Evert opened up at the Open, saying the pair had admired each other for many years from afar, before romance blossomed. "We watched each other, we definitely watched each other," she said. Norman had charisma and she'd noticed something that attracted her to him. "He's got that great walk, in case any of you hadn't noticed," she grinned at the press corps. "He's got a great walk and a great stand."
Ignoring the unintentional double entendre there, it's hard to describe Norman's gait - a loping, predatory thing as if he's seen his prey on the horizon; mixed with a touch of the military parade ground. Never mind that they were both in marriages when they met. Sometimes there is a meeting of minds and bodies which jumps across all boundaries to become what Evert called "an irresistible force". They were inseparable, doing everything together.
"That's one thing I've learned. You've got to do things together. We've both been very independent in our lives, even with our former partners. He likes to be involved in every aspect of my life and I have never had that before."
She also plainly got involved with his. Norman got his tag as a choker after losing two majors to journeymen Bob Tway and Larry Mize, both to miracle shots which some say destroyed his confidence. But it was his spectacular collapse - choke - in the 1996 Masters, blowing a six stroke lead over Nick Faldo, that defined his career.
Evert, who won 18 tennis majors, said: "Under pressure, he's very aggressive and, under pressure, I held back a bit and wasn't aggressive. It hurt me in a lot of matches against Martina [Navratilova, arguably the best woman player ever]..."
So the couple maybe decided that Norman would continue to bomb up the course as he had been doing - instead of the smart play which was to throttle back; to play conservatively, carefully.
Norman has never been defensive; never tried to protect a lead. He just gripped it and ripped it, as usual.
Ironically, his love may have cost him the Open, just as it made him into a contender. Many saw nothing more than just another piece of Norman impetuosity and mismanagement; another choke.
But he has clearly won something far greater than the British Open. And he is drinking from a cup far sweeter than the Old Claret Jug.
